Honda Kicker Problem

[jimski2]

Honda 9.9 running rough, not starting with the key start.

Paid the inter net mechanic for advice and he said to check the neutrel start switch. I took the control box apart and decided I was not capable of servicing the neutral switch with all the wires and stuff in there. Honda dealer replaced the whole control box because I screwed it up putting it back together. The carb was drained and it was refilled with fresh gasoline. $639 lesson.

[Mickey Finn]

My 8 horse Honda is not running like it usually does. It starts ok but warms up hard and I have to leave the warm-up button pulled out a little bit for it to run. As long as I do that it will troll all day long just fine.

[Jolly II]

Jeeze, there must be something going around. My 9.9 Honda kicker is doing the same thing. It's an older unit with a ton of trolling hours on it, but started running rough last year. Very similar to what is described above. I'm thinking it may be ethanol gasoline.

After discussion with some of my buddies this past winter, having trouble with old farm tractors, I'm thinking it was the 2-3 tanks of untreated ethanol gas I ran through last year while running around in my little boat. I'm thinking of getting the carb rebuilt to start, and never again running untreated gas through it.

I've been treating the gas for my big boat for over a year now, and starting this past spring every piece of equipement from the Ferguson tractor to the chainsaws get treated gas, and I just started doing the same thing from my old Chevy pick up.

My $4 a gallon at the pump, but cost a lot more than that when you have to start fixing things.

[Iceman]

Sounds like a dirty or partially plugged low spped jet passage way. A good cleaning with carb cleaner sprayed into all passages & blowout with compressed air should do it. Be sure to wear eye protection when you are using the carb cleaner, especially when you blow out the passages.

[NitroMusky]

'treating' ethanol gas doesn't prevent the damage to parts that are not ethanol compliant, it simply prevent phase separation, which is where the gas separates in to it's components (separate layers of gasoline and Ethanol-along with any water it's absorbed).

Older motors still need to be brought into compliance for ethanol standards.